I've been discussing a few ideas to improve annoying aspects of BO2 with Friends I play with on Steam, and we've come up with a few very simple ways to make the majority of the players happier.

Cheaters: First we've observed a very high probability of current cheaters with shady past records on Steam, namely Ban(s) on Record. Now while a few have indeed learned their lesson, well, many clearly have not an continue to cheat in one of many forms including but not limited to AimBots, Wall Hacks, Glitches, etc. Next, unfortunately not all hacks are blatant like Snap-on AimBots, Auto-Fire, etc but are still clearly present i.e. Wall Hacks, Macros, Recoil, etc so players tend to Report those folks rather frequently and no doubt sometimes erroneously; frequency still remains high and typically valid. An easy mechanism to track is RPD Reports Per Day. The Report Cheater button needs teeth, as it is right now and everyone knows it that it's a pacifier so make it a tool. Programming should be able to 'Heuristically Detect' hacks, and though the binary fingerprints aren't confirmed, hence no Ban, the probability is very high.

Parties: Parties and Clans are a fun and enjoyable way to play the game, pubstomp, however against an enemy team of unsuspecting Random's it's the opposite. The problem is in most cases Parties/Clans have an open mic and communicate positions, scorestreaks, etc to a clear unfairadvantage to Random Players.

Ping Rates: A persistent complaint is 'lag comp' and laggy lobbies. In theory this can be adjusted to a point, but in practice a [highest ping] - [lowest ping] > 75 ms is where Lag Comps starts breaking-down. In addition, folks with widely swinging ping rates > 50~75 ms from their basis ping mid-game can also drastically effect Lag Comp making the game unplayable for the majority. Some folks deliberately 'adjust' the bandwidths in an attempt to gain an advantage.

(new)DLC: Matchmaking for DLC maps is becoming a new problem especially on the PC, many players have less than all the DLC so 'pools' of DLC further separates the players often resulting in foreign and domestic mixed lobbies. Example there are 8 combinations with (3) map packs; e.g. No DLC, DLC 1 or 2 or 3, DLC 1 + 2, DLC 1 + 3, DLC 2 + 3, DLC 1 + 2 + 3. Pre-Order DLC Maps additionally adds another layer of separation and in particular if it's a listed game type; e.g. Nuketown & Chaos Moshpit.

(new)Joining in Lobbies: Boosting, Lobby Hijacking, & Stalking (Trolling) are a problem especially when you have a lot of friends and or Clans. Boosting, folks think it's the Tactical Insert that's the problem, but in fact it's the ability to Join In-Game & Pre-Game Lobbies that's the real problem. Lobby Hijacking for both Boosting and large Clans and or Parties is another problem. One member gets into a Pre-Game Lobby and all others simply spam themselves into that new game lobby and within seconds the Lobby is Hijacked and 'if' there are other Random players the folks with control simply make it a miserable experience for the Random's and they leave within a game or two and the lobby is 100% taken over. Stalking and Trolling, either your friends or friends of friends can join into a game without an Invite with the explicit purpose of malcontent.

Now if you've read above nowhere am I mentioning KDR or SPM and normal Matchmaking should balance the teams.

Solutions:

Cheaters: Past, present (suspected): RPD & Heuristic Detection are placed via Matchmaking into their own 'special' groups, and Prior Ban(s) Players are prohibited to create a Party, and most legitimate Clans already prohibit memberships of players with Prior Ban(s). Segregate those cheaters. For folks with prior Ban(s) well you should have thought about that beforehand and understand consequences. I/We are tired of looking-up Steam records in-lobby and/or quitting a game mid-game. Non-Banned but suspicious players have a choice to redeem themselves and uninstall Hacks, Macros, quit Glitching, etc thereby their RPD, Heuristic Detection would go down and their accounts moved back to the main group after a period of time.

Parties/Clans: In Open Lobbies all Players in a 'Party' are color coded and Matchmaking first priority is to place Parties vs Parties and if needed Random's on both sides. This alerts Random Players to the presence of a Party and provides them the option beforehand to either leave the lobby or stay.

Rage Quitting & Lobby Spamming/Slamming: After a game is > 25% over the lobby needs to be 'locked,' no one likes being Spammed/Slammed into a game that's unwinnable and often in a Spawn Trapped game in mid-to-end game. I understand this can leave 6 v 2 and often results in a forfeited game but in the long run again the vast majority of players slammed mid-to-end game on the '2' side hate it. Hopefully, the above solutions will greatly reduce its likelihood anyway.

If the (S)earch function is failing to properly place folks in e.g. <100 ms lobbies per their preferences then in the pre-game lobby display the Player's Ping rates, Countries of origin. Most folks would have no problems to mix foreign and domestic players if there wasn't a lag problem, but simple physics dictates otherwise. Further, often domestic players Friend foreign players and the Search preference option fails for the other players in the lobby. Nobody wants their 50-80 ms pings matched-up with 300 ms players or visa-versa. Players with persistent huge swings > 50 ~ 75 ms should be locked into their highest peaked ping rate throughout the end of the game session. Capped ping rate adjustments is another viable option where folks with low-stuttering frame rates and/or > 150 ms simply are at a disadvantage where (example) 11 of 12 players' ping rates are 50 ms ~ 75 ms vs a single player at 300 ms.

(new) DLC: Choices, there should be only (2) two choices: ALL DLC or NO DLC - period. In other words Season Pass or no DLC at least on the PC with its lower player base. All DLC maps including 'Bonus' map should be available for purchase, and the 'Bonus' maps (e.g. Nuketown/Nuketown Zombies) for sale from day one; Free Fall. Therefore the folks that failed to purchase the Pre-Order or are new to CoD can have access to all maps. Nuketown 2025 right off the bat split-off large numbers of players from the get-go. Solution charge e.g. $9.99 (USD) for the Bonus Map(s) for those that didn't Pre-Order.

(new) Joining: Once in a Pre-Game lobby, including In-Game, Joining needs to be locked-out. If folks want to Party then that should only be allowed in the two Main Menu lobbies. Obviously, there's an option to change 'Party to Closed' but everyone constantly changing it back and forth is an unnecessary task and that won't solve these problems. A possible exception for argument is in Custom Games because the Host is setting-up the game, but the Host should retain the ability to Kick any player even where a player joins another player who's not the Host. All of the long laundry lists of 'bad' reasons isn't outweighed by the one 'good' reason e.g. connection/kicked and re-join, in that case the party needs to go to the lobby and reestablish the missing player.

As a note to those that disagree just know that you're in the minority, and what I've stated above is both logical and will ultimately keep more players in CoD, BO2 and future titles. This is something that should have been implemented some time ago. For those that have high KDR's you shouldn't have any problems with most seasoned players, and high KDR are also in the minority of players. For those wondering what Heuristic Detection is well it's the same mechanism to catch suspected viruses that have similar acting binaries which look and act like known viruses and are attempting to interact in areas that they shouldn't and are perceived and blocked as a threat.

If you let cheaters keep playing in their own pool they will never learn. It will also take away the risk of cheating so many more will cheat in the main pool knowing there are no real consequences. Treyarch has a zero tolerance policy and I agree with them. You cheat, you're done, GET OUT.

If you show parties then no one will play with them, ever. It is esentially like getting rid of parties. All the clanners will get pissed off and leave for another game, that's -2,000 players instantly. Conversely people will almost never think "wow no parties alowed in that game now? I'm going to start playing it!" The losses will outweight the gains by far.

About 90% of games lose a player after the 25% mark. That would basically start a chain reaction where as soon as anyone leaves the game empties out because your team will be hosed for the rest of the match. It would piss people off to no end and half the playerbase would leave overnight. This is a huge problem in league where people can't join after the match starts. It's one of the reasons no one plays league. This is a really hard problem to fix but one solution might be the nuke streak from MW.

Overall at this point doing anything risks reducing player count. For every feature you hate there are people who love it and will quit if it's removed.

I'm referring to those that 'play' BO2 but have Ban(s) listed on their Steam accounts. Obviously, folks that are banned from BO2 cannot play BO2; until eh 10 minutes later with a new free Steam and repurchase of BO2 which is exactly what they do. If I had my way they'd be MAC addressed locked-out and their PC could not play any Multiplayer Steam game; exactly like a console ban.

Parties vs Parties and if one Party doesn't like that then the next Party or play individually. Parties are much fewer in numbers than Random's. Further, it's much fairer for Parties to Play other Parties. Way too many people have quit BO2 being Pubstomped. If every Party left day one then you'd probably have 5X-10X player counts right now, but I'm not suggesting Parties end just exposed and grouped accordingly. Also, I'm referring to parties 3 or more in size.

Chain Reaction or not I and so does the majority loath being crapped into a game mid-or-later in progress, and so do you or you lie. Further, the only people that would get mad are those stuck in the game verses 1~10+ that get pushed in and in mass continue to drop-out. What do you do if it's 200-0 in HP with Lodestar, SWARM, etc and you get spammed into that game -- stay!? I sure as hell leave, and worst too many times it's my first game of the day -- yipee fun - not!

I think and so does everyone I've spoken to feel the above needs to be done to keep long-term player count up and the game viable. BO2 has been in a nose dive because the above frustrates folks too much and they leave in mass.

They should just admit defeat and stop making games for PC/for cheaters. there are cheats that are undetected since release.. and it's no doubt that nearly 1/2 of the player base left playing this game is using some sort of aimcheat to flick them to enemies who are near.. i'm not on uav ever yet every player who (seems) to have skill and is minimap & UAV whoring suddenly whips in another direction and stops dead on me like i was another glowing red dot on minimap (but I'm not) and this happens again and again in 1 round duhhh.. yeh i'm playing a legit gamer.. right guy! RIGHT!

OH WOW!! DID I JUST MAKE A 100 DEGREE TURN AND STOP EXACTLY WHERE YOU WERE STANDING?? OH DID I JUST DO THAT AGAIN? AND AGAIN? WOOOPS DID THAT JUST HAPPEN ONCE MORE BUT THIS TIME THROUGH THE WALL JUST B-4 YOU MADE IT INTO THE SAME ROOM AS ME? OOOPS AND 1 MORE TIME>? OH YOUR WERENT ON MY UAV? REALLY? OH IM JUST SKILL YOU SUCK...

that's what this crap game is about on pc.. it's seriously annoying to someone trying to play legit IN A SEA OF F***ING LIARS & CHEATERS... THEY SHOULD STOP MAKING THESE GAMES ON PC!

Trust me the majority understands which is why I proposed some simple to implement changes which I and others feel will change the balance of the games in favor of the majority of players verses the minority that have unfortunately ruined the game and have driven the majority out in mass.

The game as it is now is horribly skewed and favors Cheaters and Pubstompers which many parties are also comprised of Cheaters.

In essence let the strongest unbanned Cheaters duke it out, Parties vs Parties duke it out, and Random's vs Random's duke it out all in some resemblance of peace.

In Core there is Mercenary Moshpit (only 9 players in it now) and obviously FFA that don't have the Party option. Again, I'm not suggesting 3arch eliminate Parties, and instead in a lobby expose them so players have a choice and ideally place Party vs Party.

Everyone knows a large Party vs a lobby of Random's isn't fair - period. I play both ways and there's no arguing fact. My most enjoyable games are those that are close and I/we/they have to struggle to win, in other words are challenging. Raping or getting Raped grows old fast.

Checkout the 'Yearly' (tab) to see how well the current system in BO2 'works' aka 'fails' on the PC (swan dive) - http://www.gamestat.co.uk/

Yes i noticed many times when i realize someone is cheating i check their steam account and i see they have ban(s) on record, It's sad with all this new anticheat they cant keep this game clean. Even i can clearly spot the cheater in black ops 2 but none of the anticheat can and most players ingame seem to disagree with anyone saying someone else is cheating. So I imagine the cheat reports are thin and allowing certain cheaters to continue to get away with cheating. or maybe the new system just fails. whatever the case may be it is time for a banhammer, it seems more and more cheaters are playing everyday.

I do agree with your party system and the locked servers. What single gamer would want to enter a server where 1 team is acting like its a TWL match camping every lane the enemy can take to the objective and letting their teamates know when they're dead so they can pick up their slack etcetc, and the other team is mainly a bunch of lone sharks doing whatever they want. Yes the outcome is usually a landslide, and if the party is using cheats then you can forget about it. the game is an absolute horror.

Simple Cheaters are dyed-in-the-wool liars and trolls, I mean what more can I say. Further, short of someone checking out another's PC for cheats another player cannot say 'no he/she doesn't cheat.' Prior Ban(s) is the number one indicator of an active cheater that simply hasn't gotten caught again.

In this forum only once did I see a cheater ask for forgiveness, and they probably used a cheat to compete against all of the other cheaters. No excuses for cheaters - period. The typical response is '(duh) I have no idea why I got banned' - yeah right - the only reason you get a permanent ban is because a running cheat was detected.

If 3arch doesn't want to label (color code) Parties then the alternative is to limit them to certain games and League. However, I'm realistic and confident that would upset more people, so mine is a compromise and it's like a 'voting' option of the Random Players. Simple.